The Black Panthers

Founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense set forth a principle to rescue African Americans from verbal and physical displays of racism. They stated that the Black Panther Party was formed to resist police brutality and the murder of black people by violence if necessary. The Panthers never despised white people and only wanted to create a unified, diverse nation. They wanted to terminate police brutality in African American communities by organizing harmless black protection groups dedicated to defending the black community, the Panthers believed that they could eliminate all forms of unwarranted police misconduct. The widespread tendency to react based on racial

In 1966, the Black Panthers created specific rules and regulations; they were called the Ten-Point Program. In the most essential respects, the Panthers demanded respect, justice, and peace. In the ninth part of their requests, the members of the organization announced that they wanted every black person, when brought to trial, to be "tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities" (Robinson 165). The Panthers referred back to the Constitution of United States to reiterate the right to a fair trial for every citizen of the United States stated in the 14th amendment. They refused to fight for a government that does not treat them as citizens with inalienable rights in the United States. The Black Panthers may have seemed like they were revolting against America, but they were only doing what they felt was

The local police departments began to escalate the rate of their violent attacks against the Panthers. On March 4, 1968, the FBI physically attacked a group of Panthers, but the Black Panthers persisted in their open resistance to the government even with the ongoing police repression. The Panthers acknowledged that there was strength in unity, and the white government anticipated that a black nationalist organization might formulate an organized public demonstration expressing objection to a corrupt system. The police had malicious intent to disturb and suppress the activities of any members and supporters of colored activists hate-type group; the Oakland police even took aggressive action against white people who assisted the party with their protests. African Americans were payed handsomely by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to spy on the Black Panthers and gain knowledge of future Black Panther actions. The FBI sent the local police forces to raid Panther's headquarters, which "resulted in the imprisonment or death of party members, and hastened the decline of the group in 1968" (Carson 361). Ultimately, police harassment took a toll on the Panthers as it restrained them from accomplishing their future